Arched building structure



Feb. 4, 1930. J. G. sHoDRoN ARCHED BUILDING STRUCTURE Filed Nov. 3, 19273 Sheets-Sheet III/l Ilils l INVENTOR.

A TTORNE YS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb 4, 1930. J. G. sHoDRoN ARCHED BUILDINGSTRUCTURE Filed Nov. 5, 1927 I VENTOR. Byd. J5; 'M l dm-fw! .f TTORNEYS.

.Felix- 4, l 930. J, Q SHODRQN AHCHED BUILDING STRUCTURE Filed Nov. 5,1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INI 'ENTOR .-l TTORXEYS Patented Feb. 4,` V19130UNITED STATES PATENT` OFFICE JOHN G. SHODRON, OF FORT ATKINSON,WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES 'MANUFAC- TUBING COMPANY, OF FORT ATKINSON,WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WIS- CONSIN ABCHED BUILDING STRUCTUREApplication led November 3, 1927. Serial No. 230,706.`

This invention relates to improvements in arched poultry houses andsimilar structures in which minimum cost of material in proportion tocapacity, strength and durability 5 are primary considerations.

Objects of this invention are to so organize the structural elements ofa building as to reduce the Wall areas to a minimum in proportion to thecapacity of the building; to

10 utilize the primary structural elements to the best advantage for thesupport of inexpensive insulating material such as loose straw, chafforother materials which are not ordinarily regarded as availablebecause'of their ten- 15 dency to settle, leaving uninsulated voids inthe interspaces which they are intended to fill; to organize thelstructural elements for mutual support and reinforcement in a manner toobtain maximum strength and resistance to distortion in proportion tothe character and weight of the material used; to provide an archedbuilding structure in which the roof or covering may be adequatelysupported by a minimum number of arches and the bases of the arches maybe securely anchored to a foundation such as a concrete slab or wallwith minimum expense for labor and material; and to provide a buildingstructure which may'have impervious or nonabsorbent vermin proofinterior walls such as concrete or metal walls, Without theprecipitation or condensation of moisture upon such surfaces which hasheretofore led to a condemnation of such materials for use in poultryhouses and stables. Also to provide a wall of progressiveupwardlyincreasing resistanceA to heat radiation.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an isometric view of a poultry house embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a' view of a portion thereof partly in perspective andpartly in vertical section, a portion of the roof covering being alsobroken away.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are enlarged detail views of successive archfragments with associated roof portions illustrated in transversesection.

Figure 6 is a detail view of 'the anchor plate.

The bed portion 10 of my improved building may beassumed to be composedof concrete or simllar material with marginal walls 11 extending abovethe bed portion 10 and capped by anchored sill portions 12 preferably ofwood. These sill portions 12 may be secured to the Walls at intervals bybolts 13, the heads of which are embedded in the walls. Metal anchorsare employed as seatings for the bases of the arches and are formed withportions 13 to engage the sill on the inner side, plate portions 14 torest thereon and thrust receiving portions 15 projecting upwardly alongthe outer surface of the associated arch.

The base portion of each arch is formed of a series of strips 16, 17, 18and 19 which are preferably composed of wood. The lower ends of thestrips 16 and 17 are spread by a wedge block 20, and a counter wedge 21is inserted between the strips 17 and 18, whereby the lower end portionof the strip 17 is held by these wedge blocks 20 and 21 along a linewhich is nearly tangential to the curve of the arch above the wedges.The portion of the strip 17 between the wedges therefore extendsdownwardl and divergently from the strip 16 across t e intervening spaceinto 18.` The latter and also the stri 19 are neary ly parallel with thestrip 16, alt ough divergent therefrom in an upward direction along thecurve line of a higher arch, i. e.-an arch whichis higher in proportionto its diameter and therefore not strictly concentric to the inner archcurve. The strip 19 preferably conforms to the outer surface ofthe/strip 18,

and above the wedge blocks 20 and 21 thev strip 17 conforms to the strip16 to the top of the arch.

Above the wedge blocks 20 and 21, at suitable intervals, the pairs ofstrips or laminations 16 and 17 are spaced from the pairs of strips orlaminations 18 and 19 by spacing blocks 25, 26 and 27, each spacingblock being slightly wedge tapered toward its lower end and eachsuccessive block being of correspondingly increased thikness along theradii of the arch in conformity with the divergence of the inner andouter strips. But the block 27 has a lower or inner surface whichconforms to the curvature of the inner arch, i. e.-of the strips 16 and17, and its/ outer surface is tangential to a curve line of the outerarch or arch wall where it intersects .the lower outer corner of theblock. The.

larger end of this block 27 abuts and is secured to the correspondingend of a similar block 27 on the opposite or descending side of thearch, whereby the outer arch strips 18 and 19 on the respective sides ofthe top of the arch form a peak at the point of intersection of lthetangentially directed portions of the upper ends of the outer strips. A.

vmetal tension bar 28 preferably connects the inner faces of the blocks27.

- thereto and these boards are employed to support a roof covering 31which, for the pur` pose of this disclosure,

.composed of ordinary roofing paper. The interlocking tongue and grooveconnections they extend tangentially andform a ridge Matched roof boards30 are applied to the outer strip 19 and nailed or otherwise secured maybeassumed to be of the lmatched boards as indicated at 32 secure all theroof boards together in the form of a continuous arch exceptt at the topwhere 35, and these interlocking connections between the individual'boards produce an integrally arched roof which cannot sag be'- tweenthe supporting arches. The supporting arches may therefore be set atconsiderable distances apart without danger of any sagging of individualroof boards between such arches. The interlocked roof boards .alsofurnish a more adequate lateral support cof for the arches than would bethe case if ordinary roofing boards were used. The arches cannot tilt ortip longitudinally of the build' .ing and arranged with the marginal ribof one plate overlapping the marginal rib of the next as shown at 42 inFigure 3. These ribs 41 -provide on the concealed faces of the plates 40means adapted to interlock with the filler, later to be described. Aswill be observed, the ribs form channels 0r grooves 41 extendinghorizontally and lengthwise of the structure.

. The spaces between these sheathing plates 41 .and the roof boards arelled with insulating 'material 43, which preferably comprises loosestraw, hay, leaves, or other similar inexpensive material'or lfibrousrefuse of light weight and high heat insulating value both by virtue ofits composition and also by reaythe anchorage of the filling material inthe cavities 44 between the spacing blocks of the supporting arches, andthe interlacing and adhering connections between the lower portions ofthe material and that in the upper portion, which has no tendency toslide, all cooperate in preventing shifting of the insulation or theformation of voids or uninsulated zones. Moreover, the grooves orchannels 41 receive the filler and thus interlock therewith to resistsliding and settling of the filler. yIt'will be observed that thegrooves provide an interlocking means which does not extend across thespace between the sheathing 40 and roof boards 31, and a locking meansof this character is desirable, since any means which projects acrossand closes the space between the roof boards 'and sheathing wouldinterfere with introduction of the filler, and would also eliminate theheat insulation at that point.

' It is thus possible to employ a loose fibrous filling of veryefl'ective heat retaining qualities, but of'such character as to bealmost invariably available at substantially no expense. With a fillingofstraw, it has been demonstrated that the temperature of the metalsheathing 40 may be kept so nearly at the temperature of the air withinthe 'enclosure that no objectionable precipitation occurs. While ithasbeen possible heretofore to provide metal lined' building walls withnon-heat conductive materials in the form of sheets, adhesive coatingsand fillings of cellular material which Will not settle and form voidsin vertical wall spaces, yet the expense of such heat insulation is suchas to preclude their use in the construction of poultry houses andstables for domestic animals where the cost burden must be replaced byresulting profits. I believe I am the first to provide means for notonly reducing the cost burden of the building structure, but also forobtaining such adequate heat insulation as to make possible the use ofmetal linings without objectionable condensation of moisture thereon anda reduction of heat radiation to a point where the bodily heat of theinhabitants will be sufficient to maintain comfortable livingtemperatures within well ventilated structures under all but the mostrigorous of winter temperatures and weather conditions. This result isobtained, not only by `the arch formation, but by the use of duplex archwalls, which/converge downwardly and require concentration of anymaterial which tends to settle. In this manner I also provide for aninsulating layer of progressively increasing thickness in directproportion to the increased heat radiating tendency at the higherelevations.

I preferably construct my improved building with a concrete floor, andto prevent loss of heat by conduction, and accumulation of moisture inthe floor by capillary action, I interpose a layer46 of tar, tar paperor similar imperviousl non-heat conducting material between the lowerportion or sub-floor 47 and an upper layer or top vfloor 48 of fineconcrete having a relatively large content of cement. The windows arepreferably set in metal l.box-like frames, the sides 5() of which aresuiiiciently wide to be engaged with or clamped tothe outer or roofcovering along their outer margins and to theA metal lining along theirinner margins. The structural features of these window frames are notclaimed in this application, and therefore it is deemed sufficient forthe purposes hereof to point out that these box-like frames form crosswalls across the space within which the loose heat insulating filling isplaced as above described. Ordinary end walls are used.

Their small area makes the use of any insula-- tion possible at littleadded cost.

It will, of course, be understood that the lend Walls will have anintermediate layer of heat insulating material indicated at 51 in Figure2,v exterior to the metal lining 52, wherebyl the entire interiorsurface of the building is composed of impervious non-absorbentmaterial, and protected in all areas by a layer of non-.heat conductingmaterial. The curvature of the arches is such as t0 per mit ready accessby human beings to all portions of the floor space and sufficient headroom in the central portion to allow them to stand upright. But thetotal wall area or surface exposed to heat radiation is considerablyreduced as compared with that of ordinary buildings having upright wallsand i inclined roofs and this saving in radiating area, combined withthe effective means for preventing heat losses and maintaining thetemperature of the inner surfaces of the'wall and floor at substantiallythat of the air in the enclosure, makes it possible to eifectuallyprevent condensation Within a building havling suitable ventilators asindicated at 53 in Figure 1.

Great importance is attached to the structural features which makepossible the use of loose or loosely compacted heterogeneous fillingsthat may be thrown into the downwardly narrowing wall spacespromiscuously,

combination with a foundation, of a continuously arched wall restingupon said foundation, an outer arched wall divergent from' the innerwall from the foundation to the top portion of the arch, supportingspacing arches `disposed at intervals between the walls, and

a yloosely compacted filling of brous material between said arched wallssupported in part upon ythe inner Wall and having anchorage contactswith the downwardly convergent inner and outer Walls and supportingarches, the spaces receiving said filling being of sufficient lengthalong the lines of the arches to permit development of said anchoragecontacts.

2. A building structure comprising a series of supporting arches, andlongitudinally extending arch covering strips secured to the supportingarches, the abutting strips being substantially continuously interlockedwith each other throughout their length to prevent independent movementof the strips and maintain the arch contour between the supportingarches, an inner arched Wall and arches of loose filling materialbetween the inner arched Wall and the outer interlocked strips, saidfilling material being anchored to both the inner wall and the coveringstrips.

3. In an arched buildingstructure designed to provide downwardlytapering cavities for foundation, of a sill anchored thereto and servingas a footing for the spacing arches, and a metal anchor piece having aportion engaging the inner face of the sill, a portion extending acrossthe top of the sill and a portion extending upwardly in a position toengage the outer surface of `the base portion of the arch. f

5. A building structure having an impervious ioor including an embeddedlayer of '5 non-heat conducting material and a metal lined arched wallformed with substantially continuous and substantially unobst-ructedarch-like cavities provided with apromiscuously placed filling ofnon-heat conducting material exterior to the metal lining, and arrangedwith the wall members so disposed as to prevent void forming, settlingor shift'- ing movements of the filling.

6. A building structure having an arched wall provided with spaced`inner and outer sheathing, and interposed supporting and spacing archesforming continuousl archy cavities between the supporting arches, and aloose promiscuous filling in said arched spaces, held against settlingtendencies by frictional anchorage with the sheathing and arches, saidinner sheathing having anchorage means for interlocking engagement withthe filling. Y

7. A building structure comprising a series of supporting arches andlongitudinally extending arch covering strips secured to the supportingarches, the abutting margins of said strips being substantiallycontinuously interlocked with each other throughout their llength toprevent independent movement of the supporting arches and maintain thearch contour between the'supporting arches,l an

inner arched wall secured to said supporting arches, and intermediatearches of material having lower heat conductivity than either the outeror inner arched walls.

8. A building for animals, birds, etc., havto form a ridge peak,intermediate supporting and spacing arches and intermediate arches ofnonheat conducting material between said inner and outer Walls, saidnonconductive arches having greater insulating effectiveness in theupper portions than in the lower portions thereof.

9. A building for animals, birds, etc., having a housing space providedwith an im ervious non-heat conducting floor enclosed y an innermetallic wall in the form ofl an arch, and an outer non-metallic wallalso in the form of an arch spaced from the inner wall and extendingfrom substantiall the side margins of the tloor upwardly an divergentlyfrom the inner wall to a peak above the central portion of the floor,and a loose promiscuously placed filling of non-heat conducting materialextending in the form of a substantially con- 65 tinuous arch from thevicinity of the floor level on one side to the vicinity of the floorlevel on the .other side, said filling being of greater thickness andinsulating effectiveness in the upper portions than in the lowerportions of the arch. e

10. A building for animals, birds, etc., having a housing space providedwith a i'loor and enclosed by an inner Wall having the form of an archin combmation with an outer wall 1n the form of an arch of lesscurvature and spaced from the inner wall with increasing` divergencetherefrom from substantially the floor level tothe top, supporting andspacing tling and void forming movements of portions of said material.'

JOHN G. sHoDRoN.

lso V

